Jon, who leafleted with Darina, Joe, Leslie, Madonna, Deborah, Laura,
and Wally at the Joel Osteen

We didn’t know what to expect when we arrived to leaflet the Night of
Hope Conference in Chicago. Joel Olsteen was speaking, and the crowds
just kept coming and coming. We got there at 5pm, and the event was
supposed to start at 7pm; however, people kept arriving until 7:30, so
we stayed until we finished handing out booklets. This was not an
especially ideal crowd – young people were few and far between. That
being said, a lot of people seemed interested in our information, as we
heavily emphasized that we were giving out Christian VEGETARIAN
Association booklets. Many people reached out to grab one after hearing
our description. A handful of vegetarians echoed their support of our
work. Upon encountering them and hearing that they didn't "need" a
booklet, we asked them to pass your booklet along to a friend. We
frequently saw people reading through the booklets while waiting for a
traffic light (a few of us were stationed at the closest el stop before
the venue). We reached a large amount of people in just a few hours at
this event, handing out 2900 Would Jesus Eat Meat Today? booklets,
largely due to the huge 8 person team we assembled. Thanks to everyone
who helped make this event a great success!

This passage has been a favorite among Christians who object to
vegetarianism. Paul writes to the Romans that “the man who is weak in
faith . . . eats only vegetables.” Anti-vegetarian Christians often link
this passage with Romans 14:20: “Everything is indeed clean.”

I don’t think that this week’s Lectionary reading was designed to be
anti-vegetarian. The Jews were determined to die rather that worship the
Roman gods. Killing the Jews meant a loss of revenue for the Roman
state, so the Roman authorities established an exception for the Jews
that permitted them to refrain from worshipping the Roman gods. This
exception, however, pertained only to Jews outside Rome, and kosher
slaughter was illegal in the city. Jews could only obtain meat from
pagan butchers, who typically offered prayers to Roman gods as they
slaughtered the animals.

Evidently, Paul held that those who were offended by the elements of
pagan worship associated with slaughter were “weak in faith” because
they were acting as if these gods were real. Since there was only one
God, the prayers to Roman gods were meaningless. I am doubtful that Paul
objected to vegetarianism per se, and indeed in Romans 14:21 he says,
“It is right not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything that makes
your brother stumble.”

This being said, I would like to consider the theory, popular among
anti-vegetarians, that Paul was indeed contemptuous of ethical
vegetarians. It is possible that the Roman Jewish Christians abstained
from flesh because they received Jesus’ teachings as encouraging
vegetarianism. Scholar Hans-Joachim Schoeps, in his book Jewish
Christianity: Factional Disputes in the Early Church, notes that the
Jewish Christians were vegetarian. Keith Akers’ book The Lost Religion
of Jesus makes a compelling case that Jesus was vegetarian and that the
Jewish Christian movement was largely if not entirely vegetarian for
ethical reasons. If this second theory for why Paul called the
vegetarian Roman Christians “weak in faith” is correct, then it pits
Paul’s understanding of Jesus’ ministry against those of people who
derived their understanding not by a vision after Jesus died but from
the actual life, works, and teachings of the living Jesus.

* The September editorial is entitled "Hearing Her Into Speech," an
expression from the early days of the Second Wave of the women's
movement. It suggests the attitude of respectful openness necessary for
scientists who study animals if they are to help themselves and the rest
of us understand something of the "speech" of animals.

* In a poignant Unset Gem, Gary Yourofsky describes the anguished cry
of a mother cow whose baby calf has been kidnapped (so that humans, of
course, can take her milk).

* A NewsNote links us to the story of Yvonne, a Baravian cow who
escaped just before she was to be carted off to a slaughterhell. She ran
free for three months, garnering huge public support. How can so many
people cheer for an animal who escapes from death, while themselves
continuing to eat flesh?

* In a Review, Benjamin Urrutia compares the 1938 children's novel Mr
Popper's Penguins and the recent film starring Jim Carrey. While they
both have credibility problems built into the plot, overall they show
respect for the birds, especially in the endings in which the human
characters return them to freedom in the climate natural to them.